Monday:

Went to Addition-Elle and got two ankle-length skirts, two t-shirts, and two pairs of skin-tight shorts (they’re sold as underwear) to wear under my skirts so I don’t have to deal with my thighs chafing. I always get told to buy bike shorts, but I dare you to try and find spandex bike shorts when you’re a plus size. eyeroll My skirts are awesome; one is a greyish-brown jersey that will be perfect for days that I would normally wear jeans (it’s a casual fabric so it won’t look like I’m dressing up so much), and the other is a satiny bright red full skirt that will look amazing with a white shirt on a Sunday. One of the t-shirts is orange with the back of lace just from the neck and shoulders to just above where my bra band crosses, and the other is white with nine butterflies on it, and the butterflies are mostly orange and blue, only a little bit of pink!

I went to the bank and then I met my friend for lunch at Smitty’s, where I had eggs Benedict and a fruit bowl. We went to Wal-Mart to buy yarn and I got a box fan (because my husband keeps leaving the window in the bedroom open, and if outside is damp that means inside gets damp). Then we stopped at a new pet supply and tack store to check out what they have. It’s called Cow Town and they expanded from Regina. The horse stuff is like half the store – lots of Wrangler jeans and Western shirts and cowboy boots and riding boots and hats and saddles and the like. The rest of it is mostly cat stuff and dog stuff, of course. I’m going back to get a second litter box (issues with the cat using a particular location that isn’t her box so I’m going to see if I can correct it the easy way). The critter selection isn’t so hot. Usual small pet store cages, no Oxbow brand anything, all of the guinea pig pellets are alfalfa based (they should be timothy based for adult guinea pigs). I’d buy shavings there if they weren’t cheaper at Peavey Mart and if I used shavings regularly (really just when I’m away). I’m probably going to e-mail them and tell them how much I like the store, explain about the rescue, and let them know that my partner and I would love to be able to recommend them to our clients, but they would need to start stocking Oxbow brand pellets (or at least timothy based pellets) for us to do that. I’ll also tell them that I currently order in the vitamins for the boys from Montreal, but I would buy them at Cow Town if they start stocking those, too. (They’re Oxbow brand, so you know.) I figure pointing out key areas where they’ll start making more sales is a good way to get them to do it! :)

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the library, working, and then my laptop decided to have a meltdown when I tried to shut it down. That was fun. I got groceries and picked up my husband from work. We went to Wendy’s and then we plugged in the computer and he had a look at it. After a few tries of different things, he discovered that it was probably two things: first, the hard drive had come a bit loose; second, I did shut it down while it was trying to install some updates (I hate Microsoft for the fact that you can’t tell it to install updates later anymore. That is the absolute stupidest thing ever.) So the laptop is all better, but we’re going to test the hard drive to make sure it isn’t failing and then we’ll probably install Linux and make me a dual boot machine so I can use Linux most of the time and only use Windows when absolutely necessary (like if Office won’t work under Wine or whatever).

Then we had a meeting at the church, where it was just us and the priest, but we got some more ideas sorted out so it’s all good.

Came home, I finished editing a report while we finished rewatching Sherlock, and we went to bed.

Sunday:

Went to see Man of Steel. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The music is excellent. Did you know Hans Zimmer (the composer) was in The Buggles, which is the pop group that did the song “Video Killed the Radio Star”? And that he has no formal training, yet he writes amazing movie scores. He’s done Inception, Spanglish, Riding in Cars with Boys, The Lion King, and the three latest Batman films, besides this one. Totally flexible composer – everything from animated films to dramas to comedies to SF action flicks. Makes me wonder why I bothered doing a degree in music composition. :P

Felt yuck after the movie, probably the popcorn. Saw our neighbour at Costco – she’s stopped driving the school bus. She seemed happy, so I guess he likes the job (which seemed to be doing the running and packing boxes at the tills). Which is good, because it’s always good to like your work! :)

Got home and my husband downloaded 50 First Dates as a surprise as we’d been talking about it in the car on the way home (CBC had a piece about a man who had epilepsy and couldn’t form new memories, which reminded me of the movie – and my husband hadn’t seen it). So that was a nice surprise – and he liked it, to boot! :) (If you haven’t seen it, do. Very sweet love story, Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler – their films together are always so good, it’s like Drew tempers Adam’s outrageousness somewhat, though of course she’s capable of plenty of outrageous herself!)

Friday:

Got a few things done. Overall had a bad day, though. My husband put on The Princess Bride and we watched about half of it before we went to bed. That movie is guaranteed to improve your mood.

I have no excuse. :P

Thursday:

Final day of retreat. Overall it was a good retreat, nice to get away from the everyday. Realized I am really bad at self-care; not sure what to do about that.

Went to Mom & Dad’s after retreat and then we had McDonald’s on the way out of town so they could bring me home. Back to the regular everyday and the overwhelm that I’ve been feeling so much lately.

Not sure what to do about it.

Sunday:

We slept in so no church. Rewatched Downton Abbey to the end over the weekend.

Feeling more positive, if a bit overwhelmed. Retreat prep has been slow going.

In piggy news: Batman and Squeak made it a full 48 hours without real fighting, so it looks like that pairing is a go! Hooray!

Saturday:

Writing meet in the afternoon. Good times. :)

Friday I:

1. made breakfast for me and my husband;
2. packed my husband’s lunch;
3. made the tea;
4. fed the cat and the guinea pigs;
5. ate my breakfast while reading my book and snuggling with the cat;
6. finished my book (Acacia: The War with the Mein, by David Anthony Durham – very good, you should read and give it a few chapters as it is a bit slow right at the start);
7. attempted (and failed) to solve the challenger Sudoku in my puzzle book (numbers 1-16 and this was my third try, I think I’m giving up now);
8. started dinner, turned on the dryer, and watered the plants;
9. cleaned the guinea pig cages (Batman and Squeak are now sharing; we’ll see how that goes);
10. ate dinner;
11. started working on the leaflet for Sunday; and
12. put some Asks into the Queue for the ADHD blog.

I finished the book at about 10.00 a.m. and started making dinner at about 5.00 p.m. I took my Adderall at 9.00 a.m.

I am 1000% done with my life at this point.

Thursday:

So exhausted. My husband made me take a nap after dinner.

Not getting enough sleep. Not getting stuff done.

Life is not going well. sigh

Wednesday:

Had shift in the evening, went on the treadmill at the Shaw Centre. Very nice machine, will definitely use again if recumbent bike unavailable.